Star Wars: Rise of the Ninja
by Ninja Magic
Summary: The Empire struck, ripping and burning the world asunder. Lives extinguished in blazes of heat and showers of blood. The ninja were all exterminated, except for a few who managed to escape. This is their tale. A Naruto/Star Wars crossover
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Star Wars. Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto, Star Wars belongs to George Lucas.

Chapter 1:

_I will always remember the screams_

_The horrible screams of those being burned alive, of everything around you be lost in fire._

_At this point all the towns and cities in the world have been destroyed by the Empire. They destroyed most of them early on in the invasion to prove their power and to crush any resistance. However, they didn't win that day, for a resistance was born. We hid, and we fought. We struck from the shadows and kept moving: stay in one place too long and the turbolasers would rain down and destroy us. We survived for a year and a half, because our planet was valuable. They wanted to mine the planet's resources, so they wanted to limit the amount of damage to it, so they fought with ground troops, and atmospheric ships, and other things that were possible for us to fight._

_One day though, Palpatine grew sick of the situation and ordered the planet burned and then the turbolasers came, the heat turning dirt to glass and burning people alive. We were a primitive people, before the Empire's first contact had no idea that we weren't alone in the universe. We had no ships, no advanced weaponry, and most importantly no defenses. There was no way for us to defend against the orbital bombardment, so many of us died. Some of us, including myself, escaped by loading onto the ships that we have managed to take down or steal over the years. _

_As the ships departed from a planet in flames, they shot us down. All our spectacular abilities were worthless to defend us. We were helpless, a sensation most of us had never experienced. Despite not knowing how to use the ship's weapons or technology, some of the ships managed to escape. That wasn't the end of our problems though._

_Even with rationing, we soon ran low of food and water. Sickness ran rampant. I never got sick. My tenant kept me healthy, which was a gift and curse. For it singled me out and made me a target of resentment. As a result of my health and my power from being trained by my two senseis, I was never physically attacked but there are other ways to attack someone other than physically. It was almost a mercy when the pirates attacked… almost._

_They came out of nowhere. Their shots disabled our ships' engines, stranding us in the void. Then they boarded. We leapt at the opportunity. Months of rotting in a metal cage made us desperate for action. Finally here was an enemy that we could fight. We just couldn't fight it well._

_The ships' narrow corridors did not lend themselves well to our style of fighting. They prevented us from using our superior agility and mobility. In normal circumstances we could have dealt with that, but we were tired, malnourished, and most of us were sick. We barely had enough energy to survive; we certainly didn't have enough energy to summon fireballs or any of the other abilities we had trained our entire lives to gain._

_Realizing our fight was futile, most of us fled to the escape pods. I got to a one person escape pod and launched it. I managed to escape, the escape pod having hyperspace capability. Realistically some others must have escaped to, how many I have no idea. _

_My pod eventually ended up on Tatooine, a tiny scrap of sand and dirt in the middle of nowhere. A tough lawless place where the strong survive and the weak die, or wish they were. It was also a place that could appreciate a man of my unique talents, and where someone of my training could survive and thrive._

_But however well I did, how successful my business was. In the end I had nothing, for I was…_

_Alone._

Excerpt from the journal of Naruto Uzumaki

* * *

The room was cheap and small. The dirt and sand that was engrained in everything had been there so long it couldn't be removed, but rather it became a part of the room's character. The room had cost far more credits than it was worth, but it was still cheap so Naruto paid for it with the handful of credits he had been able to steal.

Currently he was sleeping, but not peacefully. Held in the grasp of a nightmare, he tossed and turned. Suddenly his eyes shot open, and shone blood red.

Tendrils of red energy burst from his body and ripped apart the room, rending the metal from the walls and piercing the ceiling, walls, and floor. Naruto rose to his feet and roared.

Then the door flew open to reveal a portly alien of an origin that the alien himself didn't even know.

"What the hell! Damn force user, get out of my apartment building you piece of shit!"

Then Naruto turned toward him and his eyes glowed, which made the man freeze in fear, but there was no reason for a couple seconds later the demonic red power had receded back into Naruto 's body.

"Sorry for the damages. I'll leave."

"Not so fast, who's going to pay for this?"

"I can't pay for that."

"Well then I guess we'll contact the authorities. I think there's a bounty on people like you."

"In lieu of payment, I offer a service."

The man raised a feeler.

"Oh? What can you do for me?"

"What do you need done?"

* * *

Jabba the Hutt, crime lord, powerful, rich, old, and… apparently a giant slug. He spoke in Huttese, a language that Naruto didn't understand. The Huttese words were automatically translated by a protocol droid.

"The great and honorable Jabba welcomes you assassin".

"I am not technically an assassin. I'm a mercenary, I just do a lot of assassination work."

"His lordship expresses doubt as to your abilities, especially to the degree that he has heard of them. He finds them unlikely given your age and lack of size."

"Look Jabba, you called me here. I assumed it was because you wanted to hire me. Now if you want to hire me, tell me what you want. If you don't, then I'll go, but I have better things to do then stand here waiting for a fat ass slug to make up his mind."

The tension in the room dramatically rose, but it was broken when Jabba started to laugh.

"The honorable Jabba expresses amusement at your candor, but warns if you do it again he will have your entrails ripped out and have you hanged with them."

"Since I imagine that would really hurt and I kinda like my insides staying on the inside… so… um… how can I prove myself to you?"

In response Jabba pressed a button dumping Naruto into an underground cavern. Naruto landed softly on his feet and noted the 6 figures in the shadows around him.

"The exalted Jabba demands a trial of combat. Survive and he will talk to you."

The figures emerged from the shadows, and Naruto had to hold back a laugh.

"Giant pigs with axes, I'm so scared. Note the sarcasm, I'm not used to speaking in Basic and I don't want there to be any confusion."

With a grunt one of the Gamorreans ran at Naruto, with their ax held high. Naruto waited until the guard got close then calmly stepped up close to him and punched him in the throat. The Gamorrean lost his grip on his ax, and Naruto grabbed the ax in midair and slammed its blunt side into the side of the guard's head.

He saw two more guard heading towards him with another one right behind. He used the ax he took earlier to snare the ax of the guard on the right and pull the guard off balance, and then he kneed the Gamorrean in the stomach and elbowed him in the back of his head. He then dropped to the ground and broke the other guard's knee cap sending the Gamorrean to the ground. He then threw his ax at the third guard, its blunt edge connecting with the guard's skull, knocking him unconscious.

Naruto then turned around to see another pig guard swinging an ax double handed at him. Naruto caught the ax by its shaft with his left hand, and pointed his right palm at the Gamorrean's chest.

Suddenly a burst of pressurized air burst from his palm and slammed into the guard's chest, which snapped his ribs on contact. It also sent the guard flying into a wall 20 meters back.

The final guard ran at Naruto who simply stood there calmly. Then his eyes for the briefest instant flashed red and the pig guard froze in place. The only sign of life he exhibited was the occasional whimper of fear. Naruto then walked up and pushed the guard over.

Naruto then jumped up through the trap door back into Jabba's throne room. He then said with a smirk and a swagger,

"Let's talk business."

* * *

"So after I beat down those guards, I mean I was like bamm, bamm, whamm, whamm, it was really cool, I went to Jabba and said, 'let's talk business'."

Naruto was in a cantina discussing his latest adventure with three of his friends. A red headed bearded man said softly,

"You're crazy Naruto."

Another man who featured orange scales said,

"You called Jabba the Hutt a fat ass slug?"

"I'm just calling it the way I see it. The guy needs to go on a diet, or do some sit-ups or something, because he's got a bit of a gut."

"He could have killed you."

"But he didn't. Look he summoned me to his fortress. He's the one who wanted me there. I figured that if he wanted me dead, I already would be. Given he's like 600 years old; I also figured he wasn't going to go flying off the handle if I insulted him. And since I'm still alive, I guess I was right, yay for me."

A third man with dark hair said,

"Out of curiosity Naruto, where are you from? I have been all over the galaxy and I can't place your accent."

"I'm from Shuuyoujo, it's a small planet deep in the unknown regions, really unimportant, no one has heard of it."

The first man said,

"Is it nice?"

"… it was."

There was a very awkward silence.

The man with dark hair looked at his wrist.

"Oh I got to go, sorry about running out like this; we got to do this again sometime."

The man with the scales said,

"I kinda have to go too; my lunch hour is just about done."

The red headed man stood up.

"Where are you going, your job doesn't start for 7 hours?"

"My old job doesn't start for 7 hours, my new one does."

"You got fired again?"

"Yeah, the boss man got totally freaked out when he caught me get friendly with a girl in his office."

"How friendly?"

"There are stains and smells he will never be able to get out of his desk."

"Who was the girl?"

"His daughter."

"And you call me crazy."

"Yeah whatever, I got to go, I'll see you man."

Naruto looked at the empty table around him, sighed, and said softly,

"Yeah, see you."

* * *

Two enemies circled around him waiting for an opening, and the hot desert sun beat down on him. There was nothing around for kilometers on purpose for he didn't want an innocent to get hurt.

One of the enemies ran at him. Naruto dodged the blow and attempted to counterattack but the blow was blocked and he was kicked into a nearby rock formation. His opponent ran in to follow up on his momentary weakness, but Naruto jumped up and sticking to the rock with his chakra imbued hands swung his feet forward smashing his opponent's face into the stone.

Having suffered too much damage, Naruto's second to last shadow clone disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Naruto then threw himself to the side, barely avoiding a gout of flames. His clone maintained the flames and moves the stream towards him and Naruto dove behind the rock. He threw sand to the left, the clone instinctually blasted it, and Naruto slipped out the right side and ran at his clone. He then threw a burst of wind at the ground causing a cloud of sand to rise up obscuring the entire area.

The clone whipped out a kunai and swung the blade behind him blocking a blow from Naruto's kunai. The knife fight was fast and vicious. But ended with Naruto's blade sinking into the clone's throat.

Naruto breathed heavily, panting hard, trying to catch his breath, he had been doing this for hours. His left arm hung limp as a result of a strike by the clone that severed a few tendons but he wasn't worried. As a result of his tenant he was already starting to regain mobility. His arm would be fine, pity he wasn't.

He really had tried to move on with his life. To create a new life in the galaxy, to put Palpatine out of his mind, but he couldn't. He tried to create friendships, but they were empty and flat. He was too different from them, too much of his life he had to keep hidden. Whenever he let slip one of those hidden parts they would get uncomfortable and find some excuse to leave like some of his friends had earlier. He knew the problem was him, and he knew what exactly the problem was. He thirsted for revenge. It was the first thing he thought about when he woke up and the last thing he thought about before going to bed. It was on his mind constantly, a constant level of rage and anger that unconsciously affected how he acted and haunted almost every waking moment. In many ways, revenge was all he had now.

Sometimes he would spend time daydreaming about what he would do to Palpatine when he got a hold of him. How he would rip the man apart chunk by bloody chunk, and then grind up the remains until he resembled ground meat. How he would skin him and make him burn. Right now he trained and bided his time. When the time came, he would make his way to Coruscant and strike. He would have his revenge.

And that was a promise of a lifetime.

With a gesture 10 new clones appeared around him.

"Let's go again."


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars or Naruto. Star Wars belongs to George Lucas, and Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

Chapter 2:

_Death is a weird thing. It remains mysterious and abstract until you've experienced it or dealt it. Even then it's hard to really explain. It's hard to cope with, the idea that between two moments, a person could just vanish. In the life of a ninja, death is a constant companion, so it is a reality that we must quickly get used to, but it never gets easier. _

_The hardest part is not taking a life. After a while, a sense of numbness sort of sets in and you can kill without really feeling it. It is not even the idea of dying yourself. The way I figure, if there is an afterlife, I can deal with whatever happens and I might see some friends who have died, and if there isn't an afterlife, I obviously won't care about the fact I died. The scariest part of being a ninja is the knowledge that every single person you interact with, every friend, could die at any moment. It's a sad reality that ninja tend to befriend only other ninja. Civilians cannot really connect to ninja if they have been a field operative for long enough. I mean there are exceptions but it's rare. All your friends are ninja, ninja who every day go into situations where they can die. You may never see them again. All the little things about them you take for granted, then they're gone and you feel alone._

_You are probably wondering why I'm ranting on about death. Something big happened to me recently. It's not 'blew up my home planet' big, but it's still big, or at least it is to me. My former sensei Jiraiya is alive and apparently he's my godfather. Holy shit. I just found out today and apparently he couldn't take care of me because of a whole bunch of political crap and his job and stuff like that. I didn't react well to the news. I grew up by myself and the idea there someone was supposed to take care of me, but didn't, hurts. One destroyed room later, I calmed down enough to talk it through with him. It still hurts but I think I can deal and forgive him. Because basically, Ero-sennin could die at any moment. He lives a dangerous life. I mean one day he could piss someone off and they could kill him. Also he's really old. So he could fall from a heart attack or something. I don't want to live my life regretting never getting to know my godfather. Grudges against people you love are dangerous because you could lose them at any time. You should appreciate every moment you have together, because tomorrow they may be gone. _

Excerpt from the journal of Naruto Uzumaki

* * *

The man stepped out of the cockpit of his ship, his clothes tight enough to show his rippling muscles. The helmetless head showcasing his flowing blond hair and his crystal blue eyes. As he stepped forward a crowd of people roared and erupted in applause. Palpatine stepped out from the crowd, bowed to him and said,

"Lord Skywalker, in honor of your bravery and heroism, here's 100 billion credits."

Skywalker replied,

"I cannot. I do not save lives and go on incredible adventures for money, but rather for a love of justice".

He turned, his hair gleamed, and in the background there was the faint sound of a violin.

"Perhaps I could find a way to thank you". When Skywalker turned back, Palpatine was gone and in his place was a gorgeous girl in a bikini.

Skywalker replied, "Perhaps you can thank me. Dinner my dear?"

The girl smiled and replied,

"I was thinking a kiss instead."

Skywalker and girl simultaneously leaned towards each other and the music switched to a full orchestra swelling into majestic roar.

"Mr. Skywalker!"

* * *

"Mr. Skywalker!"

Luke was jolted back to reality, the details of his incredible dream rapidly disappearing in response to his return to the real world and his teacher's harmonious voice.

"Yes sir."

"What's the answer to the question I just asked?"

Luke's eye widened and he frantically looked around the room for inspiration. He had no idea what the hell the class was currently talking about. He eventually caught the eye of his friend Tank.

He attempted to ask for help with his eyes, and in response Tank held up 2 fingers.

"Two sir."

"The reason Palpatine changed the Republic into the Empire was two?"

Luke sent a quick glare at Tank who was snickering.

"Yes sir, the reasons were two fold. The first reason was that the old system of government was ineffectual, slow, and burdened by excess red tape and bureaucracy. The second reason was the exposure of the Jedis' treachery proved that corruption was too prevalent in the old government for that government to remain unchanged."

"Correct. Now class, your homework is to read and summarize chapter 14. It's due the next time we meet. Class dismissed."

The classroom quickly emptied out and Luke made his way to Tank's desk. Tank smirked as Luke walked up.

"You're a kriffing asshole Tank."

"Well I try."

* * *

Luke and Tank walked through the hallway after class. School was over.

"So what were you dreaming about?"

"It's hard to explain, but it was awesome. I had adoring fans, I was a renowned Imperial pilot hero, I was filthy rich, I had biceps the size of your head, and this super hot girl was about to make out with me. Then Mr. Elprin interrupted… bastard."

"I am just going to take a wild guess here; you're going to apply for the Imperial Academy when you're old enough? Maybe we'll go together, be in the same class."

"Man I would love to go, but Uncle Owen would never allow it. He's got this big idea in his head that I am going to take over the farm. He's planned out my entire future. I've tried to tell him I don't want to be a farmer, but he still doesn't understand I don't want to be a farmer. That, or he understands but just doesn't care. Sometimes that old man drives me nuts."

"Luke".

Recognizing the voice, Luke turned to the side and smiled nervously.

"Hey Uncle Owen".

Down the hallway walked Owen. Middle aged and shaped pretty much like a barrel.

"What are you doing here, where's Aunt Beru?"

"Beru was busy so she asked me to pick you up."

He turned towards Tank.

"Hello Janek".

"Hi Mr. Lars. I'll catch you later Luke."

Owen and Luke made their way to Owen's speeder and started driving.

After a few minutes, Owen broke the silence.

"How was school today?"

"Fine".

"What did you learn?"

"Stuff".

After a few more minutes of silence, Owen spoke again.

"What were you and Janek talking about?"

"Tank".

"Excuse me."

"He prefers to be called Tank."

"Why?"

"Because he's big and tough… you know like a tank".

"Ok… so um… what did you and Tank talk about?"

"Just my plans for the future."

"Ah, talking about the farm right?"

"Not exactly".

"What do you mean? If not the farm, what were you talking about?"

"I… um… want to be a pilot."

Owen slammed his hands onto the steering wheel and barely avoided hitting another vehicle.

"What!"

"I was hoping to enter the Imperial Academy in a few years and…"

"Absolutely not!"

Uncle Owen interrupted him.

"I am not letting you go off and waste your life, time and money on some fool's dream. You might get yourself killed, but far more likely you will get washed out and either end up rotting in some gutter somewhere or you'll come crawling back to me begging me to let you have a job. Get your head out of the clouds boy, you belong on the ground."

"Well what do you know? You're just a cranky old man who has lived on the same miserable chunk of rock, on the same miserable planet, for your entire life. What do you know of the galaxy outside Tatooine?"

"You will give me respect boy."

"I will give you respect when you've earned it!"

Owen whipped his head around and stared at Luke and then after a few seconds turned back to the road, but his hands were gripping the steering wheel so tightly that the veins on his forearms appeared like they were about to burst.

Luke continued.

"You're not my father".

"You're right; I am not your father, but Beru and I raised you, and I thought we raised you right. You're grounded."

"For not complying with some stupid vision you have about my future that I never wanted?"

"I am not grounding you for being a fool; I am grounding you because you're a brat."

"I hate you!"

Owen didn't respond and the inside of the vehicle quickly settled into a thick, uncomfortable, and awkward silence.

* * *

Beru was cooking dinner when she heard the landspeeder pulled up.

The door opened and Luke ran through.

"Hello…"

She trailed off when Luke simply ran to his room angrily and slammed his door.

When Owen came in a few moments later she asked him,

"What happened?"

Owen didn't respond for a moment and mechanically started making himself coffee.

"He wants to be a pilot."

"You had to know this was coming. Could you expect anything else given who his father is?"

"I knew it was coming, but it doesn't mean I like it or will allow it. More than that, he wants to be an Imperial pilot".

"Owen…"

"No, you know just as well as I do what will happen to him if he does that. There is no way in hell he won't find Luke. I mean blonde hair, blue eyes, name of Skywalker, natural talent and affinity for piloting and that Force crap, Vader may never have been that bright, but he isn't a complete idiot. He'll connect the dots. Then he will probably either kill him or corrupt Luke into some twisted evil thing like himself. And I will not let that happen to my boy! He will stay on Tatooine where it's safe."

"But will he be happy?"

"He'll learn to be happy".

* * *

The room was silent except for a steady thump, which was Luke bouncing a ball off the ceiling. After every bounce, Luke would catch the ball and throw it again. It rang through the room like a steady metronome beat. Luke lay on his bed, a large frown on his face. And with every bounce that frown got heavier and darker.

* * *

Luke walked through the streets of Mos Eisley, with only his clothes and his backpack. He was so angry last night that the next day, when Beru dropped him off at school, he ran off. Of course he neglected to figure out what he was going to do afterwards. But he would figure something out because he couldn't go back. He knew where his life was heading. Uncle Owen would forbid him to leave the farm until he was a legal adult, and then he would keep him there after that via excuses and guilt trips. 'Oh, just one more season'. Eventually Luke would be an old man who never did anything significant his entire life, whose only experiences were running a farm, and he would look back at this time of his life wistfully and wonder what might have been. He couldn't let that happen, no matter what.

Luke eventually decided he would try to find a ship to take him offworld. He didn't have a lot of money but maybe it would be enough, or he could work on the ship or something. The only problem with that is that he didn't know the area, so he didn't know where the spaceport was. He has already wandered the city for an hour, his feet hurt, he was thirsty, and he was starting to regret doing this. Not the part about running away, but running away without a plan.

He then heard the sound of a ship taking off and went after the sound and eventually saw the Mos Eisley spaceport.

He took a short cut through an alley, but moments before he would have exited the alley something grabbed his shoulder and firmly pushed him into a wall.

Once Luke got his bearings, he noticed that all around him were 8 thugs. They all looked big, mean, and were of a wide variety of species. One person, a human, stood out. Luke instinctually knew that he was the leader, he had no idea how he knew, but he did. The leader then spoke.

"Well what do we have here? We got a little trespasser, what should we do with him? Give me options people."

The rest of the thugs starting throwing out suggestions.

"Rob him and kill him."

"Eat him"

"Sell him, blondes are in right now"

"Chop him up, sell the parts. I know a few bastards who need a heart. Heh heh heh."

When there was a slight pause in the suggestions, Luke put his right hand over his mouth, attempted to throw his voice and make it sound deeper.

"Let's forget this little pipsqueak and all go get drunk."

The leader spoke,

"All excellent suggestions and I have decided thus. We will rob him, kill him, chop him up, sell the parts, and finally, get drunk."

As the rest of the thugs cheered, Luke started frantically looking at the exits of the alley, wondering when would be the best moment to make a break for it.

The leader continued,

"Now hold still kid, and this will be over before you know it."

There was a loud cough at the entrance to the alley and every head turned.

It was a blonde boy, about 16 years old. Over his blue and black clothes he wore a dark orange torso plate, he had slim shin guards and forearm guards, a couple dozen pouches around his waist, and a metal headband with some kind of swirl or stylized leaf on it. His eyes were a clear blue that were currently staring at them with contempt.

"Picking on kids now?"

"Who the hell are you?"

"The person that's gonna kick your ass. I hate bullies, especially people who bully kids. So I'm gonna beat that lesson into you."

A person lunged at Naruto with a metal bat, Naruto casually grabbed the bat with his right hand, wrested it from the thugs grip, and broke the thug's nose with its butt without ever taking his eyes of the leader. He then hit the thug again with the bat, knocking him out.

"And I'm going to be doing that beatin', with my handy dandy new beatin' stick."

Luke took that opportunity to run from the alley, but he didn't fully leave, but rather stop at its exit because he was curious about what's going to happen.

Naruto continued,

"I am going to thrash your ass so bad you'll have to shit out your mouth, which may actually improve your breath. I mean seriously, here's a new vocabulary word for you… toothpaste."

The other thugs started taking out knives. The leader snarled,

"You can't take down all of us."

"Really, are you sure? Maybe you're right. But I'm a crazy bastard with a big bat who wants to hit something. The first couple people who attack me are going to have the hell smacked out of them. I mean I'll be like wamm! right in the face. Wamm! right in the throat. Wamm! Don't worry it'll drop again eventually and if not you do have another one, well unless I go… wamm! So who's first?"

All the thugs' faces started to look at little green, or in the case of some of whose faces that were already green, greener.

The leader looked around, the other thugs were shifting on their feet uncomfortably and they wouldn't look him in the eye.

"We weren't going to do anything. Just messing around. Let's go men."

All the thugs quickly walked out of the alley, except for the one guy who was unconscious.

Naruto looked at the figure and said,

"FYI, I'm keeping the bat."

He then walked out of the alley.

* * *

"Thank you so much".

Naruto smiled and responded,

"It was nothing."

"I really appreciate it."

"Happy to do it."

"I mean I…"

"Look, let's just agree I'm awesome and leave it at that. The name's Naruto"

Luke and Naruto were in the spaceport, Naruto was loading some boxes onto his ship and Luke was gushing.

"I'm Luke".

He saw a spherical droid float out of the ship.

"Who's that?"

Naruto's arm flew out, grabbed the droid, and tucked the thing under his armpit.

"This here is Tomo. My friend, translator, mechanic, spy, and of course pilot."

"Pilot?"

Naruto released Tomo and responded.

"Yeah I am pretty bad with ships. I barely know how to turn mine on. I think it's a switch, or maybe it's a knob, dial? In any case if wasn't for Tomo I would be the only mercenary in the galaxy stuck on Tatooine for their entire life."

"You're a mercenary? What kind of things do you do?"

"Around here, a lot of assassination work. What can I say, lot of people hate each other around here, good for business. But regardless, confidentially speaking, I am getting kind of sick of this place. So I am just going to blast off and see where life takes me."

"Can I come with you?"

"Huh?"

"Please."

"I'm not a babysitter."

"I'm not a baby."

"You're running away from home aren't you?"

"How did…?"

"You don't look, act, or smell like a street kid. So I just assumed."

"You don't understand, I had to leave."

"What, were they beating you?"

"No".

"Starving you, abusing you?"

"No and no".

"Then what?"

"My uncle refused to let me live my own life. He had this big plan for me."

"Someone loves you, how tragic."

"You don't understand. He doesn't care about what I want. He's forcing me along a path that I don't want to walk. If I am going to have any chance of living the life I want to live, I had to leave.

"What do you want?"

"I want to have adventures".

"Look, family is all you got. Life's unpredictable, they could die at any moment. Appreciate and take advantage of the time you have with them. There will be plenty of time for adventures later. In any case, can you even do anything?"

"I can do math and science…"

"I meant can you do anything useful? Like fight or something."

"I speak Huttese."

"Great, you can understand what the thugs are saying when they're kicking your ass. You know what I say, screw the Huttese language, I have a translator droid. Without any useful skills, how did you think you would survive out here? What would you do for money?"

"I didn't really think about it."

"Well you should. How about you go home and work on developing some useful skills, so when you eventually do go on an adventure, you won't get yourself killed. Also spend some time sneaking vague hints about adventuring into the conversations with your uncle, maybe he'll warm up to the idea."

"Ok."

Naruto pulled a blaster from a box.

"Here, just in case you run into trouble on the way back."

"Thanks".

As soon as Luke left, Naruto heard a sound. In an instant a knife was in his hand and he was turned around.

He found himself facing an old man that was 4 meters or so away from him. His trained eyes started noting details.

The man was about 50, had a beard, was half a head taller than Naruto was, and brief specks of brown in his hair revealed his original hair color. Dressed in brown robes, Naruto guessed from the way he held himself that he was a retired soldier of some sort. He had no apparent weapons on him, but a slight bulge on his hip implied he had a weapon hidden. Not noticing any more details, Naruto decided to find out more in his usual diplomatic fashion.

"Who the hell are you?"

The man chuckled and replied,

"My name is Ben Kenobi. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"It is?"

"That was a good thing you did."

"What?"

"When you saved Luke, most people on this planet wouldn't have."

"You were watching?"

"No. I just saw the end when the hoodlums ran whimpering from the alley. I put together what happened from your conversation with Luke."

"You know him?"

"Not really, I knew his father."

"Ah."

Naruto started to relax, the man seemed very nonthreatening. Ben then said,

"You have a very odd Force signature."

With a snarl, Naruto angrily pointed at Kenobi and yelled,

"And you're ugly!"

Ben was taken back and replied,

"I wasn't insulting you."

"Oh… then you're… not... ugly… you were saying something about the Force."

"The Force is energy, the life's blood of the universe. Every life, every person contributes their own unique life energy, emotions, and being to the whole. Your energy, your presence in the Force feels different than others do. If everyone else can be compared to wine, you're whiskey. Your energy is crude, violent, dangerous…"

"As am I. Why are you telling me this?"

"I know what you have planned."

"Which is what?"

"The destruction of the Empire."

"Why do you say that?"

"A blind man could see it, and the Force grants me the ability to see things that most cannot. Don't worry, I won't report you. I simply wish to offer you a warning. Be careful and don't do anything rash. Take the time to create a plan, and wait for the right moment or you may very well get yourself killed."

"Thanks, but no thanks. There never will be a perfect time, and plans almost never work anyway. Creating a plan and waiting are the tools of cowards who are scared to act. They'll wait for the perfect time so long that they'll never get anything done. I am not going to sit back on my ass and do nothing. If I get killed, fine, but I'll be getting killed doing something. Now I got to go."

Carrying one last box inside his ship, Naruto's ship blasted off.

Watching the ship take off into space, following the ship's path with his eyes, Obi-wan frowned. Then all of a sudden he kneeled over in pain and collapsed to the ground.

_

* * *

_

I remember that day clearly.

_We were on our way back from a Mission to Wave Country. I was really happy and excited about returning to Konoha. Despite not always having the best memories there, Konoha was and still is my home. I was babbling about something, probably ramen related, as I had a bit of noodle obsession in those days._

_There wasn't any trouble going through the security checks, there wasn't any sign of things going wrong until we entered the village. It wasn't anything obvious or visible. It was more of a feeling, a cold, painful feeling at the pit of your stomach and the thought that your life was soon going to change for the worse._

_It was a civilian who spotted it first. It was a strange white object that shot through the clouds. Faster than anything I had ever seen. I had never seen anything like this. It started to slow down and it landed in front of the main administration building. A somewhat important looking guy in a gray uniform got out flanked by a couple soldiers in white armor, and then they all walked into the building._

_The next 5 minutes were difficult for me. I knew something big was happening, something that would affect me. I desperately wanted to do something, anything. But I was too scared to move. I was scared if I did anything I would screw the whole situation up and ruin things and it would be all my fault._

_Then I noticed this green light shooting down from the sky. Nobody knew what it was, but we had a feeling it was bad, but we had no idea how bad it was._

_This beam made contact and it destroyed everything it touched. Entire buildings vanished and the village as it was ceased to exist._

_The streets erupted in noise and everyone started to panic and Kakashi-sensei turned to us and ordered us to Bunker 4. He would stay behind and help evacuate. I would have argued with him, say I wanted to help, that I wasn't going to leave him behind, but one look at his face and the words died in my throat and we just ran._

_At some point I got knocked out and I woke up on the floor of the hospital of Bunker 4. A piece of debris had hit the back of my head and knocked me out cold. I wondered why I wasn't given a bed, but as I looked around it turned out other people needed it more. People who were cut in half, people whose bodies looked like a piece of cheese after being shoved through a grater and other people who haunted me to this day._

_We lost so many ninja. Our civilian population was decimated. The death toll from this one event, dwarfed the last World War._

_It's amazing that in approximately 15 minutes, one of the strongest military power in the world just vanished. Life just changed so much, so quickly, that part of you can't believe it. It's hard to comprehend that your life as you knew it was gone forever, it's like a dream that you think you're going to wake up from, but you never do. _

_One of the worse parts is that we never did find out why we were attacked._

_On the surface it appeared a simple conquest, but in hindsight that really doesn't make sense._

_Shuuyoujo is small, remote, and out of the way. It has no value strategically, militarily, or politically. The planet is difficult to travel to and is extremely isolated from anything of galactic importance. _

_Yes the planet has valuable resources. However, even assuming that Palpatine would send his troops into the middle of nowhere just for a couple of shiny rocks and metals, how would he have found out about them in first place? Hell, how did he find out about the planet in the first place? Does he have goons lurking around the edges of the galaxy looking for things to report? I guess it's possible, but Shuuyoujo is really difficult to find by accident. Whoever found it was looking for it._

_Palpatine was drawn to our world because something on it attracted his attention, but what? _

Excerpt from the journal of Naruto Uzumaki

* * *

The first thing that struck you about him was not his size or the power that lied within his massive frame but rather his breathing. It was harsh, inhumanly exact, and mechanical, it was appropriate considering the identity of the figure. This man was currently angry.

The prisoner grunted in pain. His name was Akira, and in a previous life he was a Jounin of Iwagakure. However, he was captured during a raid and he has been a prisoner ever since. Bound to a metal chair by chains and outfitted with a collar that suppressed his chakra, Akira was helpless to escape the continuous interrogation.

With a beep, an interrogation droid injected another vial of some substance into the prisoner's arm.

Vader spoke,

"I will ask you again, tell me what you know of the Bijuu."

Akira spat at Vader. In response, Vader grabbed onto Akira's neck with the Force and lifted him into the air. The metal chair hung from his body, dragging his arms down.

"Tell me of Jinchuuriki."

Akira yelled, and a spark of chakra escaped the device's hold, which was enough. Akira broke the chains, seized the interrogation droid and thrusted its syringe into his face. The droid, classifying the act as an attack, injected Akira with a lethal amount of chemicals. Akira immediately went into convulsions and in the instant before dying whispered,

"You lose."

* * *

Darth Vader, quite possibly the most feared person in the galaxy, kneeled before a man he feared himself, his master Palpatine. The glow of the hologram that Palpatine was broadcasting from, gave an odd glow to the full body armor/life-support that housed Vader's body.

"What do you have to report Lord Vader? Has the prisoner revealed his secrets?"

"He had not, My Master. His mind had proven resistant to physical and chemical means of interrogation, and means utilizing the Force were impossible considering his condition."

"Were? Lord Vader."

"The restraining collar malfunctioned long enough for him to escape his chains. He then committed suicide by forcing the interrogation droid to inject him with a lethal dose of chemicals."

"Unacceptable, my patience with your incompetence grows thin. I had trusted you with my little pet project and you have failed me. Perhaps you are too weak to serve and it is time for you to be replaced."

"My apologies, Master."

"I don't want apologies, I want action. Now find me a new prisoner. I will have my information. Is that understood Lord Vader?"

"It is."

* * *

When Vader returned to his room on the Devastator, there was a figure waiting for him. In an instant, Vader's lightsaber was in his hand and he thundered,

"Who are you?"

The figure stepped out of the shadows, his odd yellow eyes glimmering in the low light of Vader's personal chamber.

"My name is Orochimaru, and I have for you a proposition."

"I'm listening."

"Serve me and I'll restore Padme to life."

With a roar, Vader sprang forward and grabbed Orochimaru by the throat and dangled him in the air.

"You dare use her name in such a manner!"

Completely unfazed by his dwindling oxygen, Orochimaru stated calmly,

"Really, you don't even want to hear what I have to say? You don't even want to entertain the idea that I can bring her back to life? Or maybe you want her to remain dead? And I thought you cared about her."

"I loved her."

"Do you kill everyone you love? Oh wait, you do. Your poor mother, she would be so disappointed in how you turned out. You promised you would come back for her. You would free her, but you never did. You left and didn't look back. You never contacted her, for 10 years you let her rot. My, what a wonderful boy you were. If you were there, if you hadn't abandoned her to slavery, you could saved her from those animals. You could have protected her. Instead you were gallivanting about the galaxy on your Jedi adventures."

"I tried to save her!"

"And failed I must add. Also do you think it was merely coincidence that your mother of all people was chosen for the ritual? That out of all the people on the planet, the chosen one's mother was the one picked. A simple coincidence that you got there just at the right moment to watch her die? Surely you're not that stupid. Think; who would benefit from you surrendering to your rage? So in the end, regardless of whether it was due from your ineptitude in recognizing Palpatine's treachery, or your failure as a son, your mother's death was your fault. Of course, you know how Padme's death was your fault. Perhaps you enjoyed crushing the life from her. Did it bring you joy to kill the only person you loved… or supposedly loved anyway?"

"No…"

"Then put me down."

After Vader had done so, Orochimaru talked again,

"I will restore Padme, your wife, to life in exchange for your obedience. I will be at her tomb on Naboo in 3 days. Be there if you want to talk further. Before I go, remember all the wonderful times you had with her. All the laughter, all the joyous times you had. The way she would look into your eyes, the way her head fit into your shoulder just so, the way she would kiss you and tell you how she loved you. Pity, you'll never see her again. Such a beautiful woman, you know that when you die you'll never to be sent to the same place she was. There is a special place in hell for you. Lovers, forever being kept apart. It's tragic. How you must yearn to embrace her, to hold her in your arms, but she is forever lost to you… without me. Naboo, 3 days."

With that last word, Orochimaru's features started to dissolve, which revealed another person's features underneath them. Vader vaguely recognize him as one of his ship's officers. The body then collapsed dead to the floor.

* * *

Vader walked into the tomb. As per Naboo tradition, all rulers upon death were preserved and displayed so future generation could forever pay their respects and remember them.

Vader's eyes were automatically drawn to Padme's body, which was on the floor, with arcane symbols written in blood on her. Next to her was Orochimaru.

"You're here, delightful; I will assume you decided to accept my offer."

"I require proof."

"Of course."

Orochimaru then started making hand gestures and when he was done slammed his hands on the floor. Dark energy seemed to radiate from him and the arcane symbols evaporated, and to Vader's amazement, Padme's eyes opened and she stood up.

Frozen for a moment, Vader snapped to life and rushed to her side.

"Padme? Is it really you?"

For a moment she didn't speak and then she said softly,

"Ani?"

With a half strangled sob; Vader took her into his arms.

"I am so sorry."

"It's ok."

"No, it's not. I killed you. But we have a second chance now and I swear I'll do anything to protect you, so we can be together again. I love you."

"I love you too."

Padme then went limp.

Orochimaru cleared his throat.

"Well that's enough of that. You need to earn time with your wife. Now do we have a deal?"

Vader was silent for a few moments, lost in memories, then he responded,

"We do."

"Good. I'll contact you later with instructions. I leave it to you to make accommodations for storing Padme's body."

Orochimaru then walked out of the tomb.

Vader was still in shock, he had never imagined something like this would happen to him. But something was off.

When he killed her 14 years ago, she was pregnant with his child. Padme's funeral was effectively for two people, for her and for the murdered fetus that still dwelled within her womb. She was placed into a stasis field, which kept her in the exact same condition for all these years. But she was now no longer pregnant. Desiring answers, Vader began to think about his past and that horrible event.

Perhaps she did survive his initial attack. Palpatine was the person who told him he killed her. Maybe she was merely gravely injured. Maybe she survived long enough to give birth, but she was pregnant at her funeral, how? Unless…

The traitors, they wanted to trick him into thinking his child was dead. They conspired to keep his offspring away from him.

The thought settled in his mind, and it rang with truth. The Force told him he was right.

"I have a child."

* * *

Watching the ship take off into space, following the ship's path with his eyes, Obi-wan frowned. Then all of a sudden he kneeled over in pain and collapsed to the ground.

He saw Vader with Padme's body, and he heard him say 'I have a child'. Why Vader was in the tomb in the first place was unknown to him, but this was bad. A change in plans was necessary.

* * *

Obi-wan looked at the door of the home. He wouldn't be doing this if he had any choice about it. With a deep breath, Obi-wan walked to the door and knocked.

After a few moments, the door opened, revealing Owen Lars. His face automatically became a frown when he saw who was at the door.

"What the hell are you doing here? I thought I made it clear last time you weren't welcome here."

"You did, but we have a problem."

"Yes we do. That problem is that you're trespassing, and I want you off my property."

"He knows."

"Who?"

"Vader knows he has a surviving child. That means Luke is in danger."

After a swallow and a pause, Owen said weakly,

"How do you know?"

"A vision."

With a snort, Owen responded.

"We have much to discuss. You should come in."

Owen stepped aside and Obi-wan walked through the door.

Owen stuck his head outside the door, and furtively looked around for a few moments, half expecting Vader to spring out from behind a rock. He then retreated his head back indoors and a second later the door slid shut.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Star Wars. Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. Star Wars belongs to George Lucas.

Chapter 3:

The Force swirled about him as he attempted to bend it to his will.

"You must focus Luke."

With a grunt, 10 large boulders rose into the air.

Obi-wan smiled and said,

"Now stack them on the ground there."

The rocks floated to that mentioned spot and they started to arrange themselves in midair so they were all on top of each other.

Obi-wan suddenly pulled out two foam balls and threw them at Luke. Luke caught one of them, but the other hit him in the face. With his attention diverted, the boulders dropped several meters to the grounds, and the stack toppled over.

"That's not fair."

"Life's not fair. A Jedi needs to be able to concentrate on multiple things at the same time. That's enough of that for now. Take a short break and meet me back here in 10 minutes for lightsaber practice."

"Yes Master."

Luke ran off, and Obi-wan saw Beru and Owen approaching. Beru spoke first.

"How's he doing Obi-wan?"

"Quite well. The boy is very talented, and picks up concepts quickly and I think-"

Owen interrupted.

"Is he turning like his father did?"

"Of course not. Do you think that just because he's being trained in the Force, you think he's going to turn?"

"No, I think he might because he's being trained in the Force by you. You trained Anakin and we all know how that turned out. Why should I believe for a second you'll do a better job with his son? I mean if you were a decent teacher, the galaxy wouldn't be in this mess."

With an angry whisper of "Owen", Beru elbowed him in the ribs.

"It's ok Beru, he hasn't said anything that I haven't thought myself at one point. Part of me blames myself for everything that happened, and likely always will. I wonder if I did something wrong? If someone else had trained him would things have turned out differently? I don't know."

After a quick sigh, Obi-wan continued.

"Yes, Palpatine played the largest part in this, but I had my part too. But none of that matters now. This situation has changed. Now that Vader know he has a child, it's only a matter of time until he finds him. Luke needs to be trained. I might not be the ideal Master, but I'm our only choice. But I promise you that I'll protect Luke with my life, even from himself if necessary. The boy will not turn."

After a few moments Owen put out his hand.

Obi-wan looked at it skeptically for a moment and shook it.

Owen smiled and Obi-wan's hand started to crack. With a grunt Owen pulled Obi-wan in close to him and whispered.

"If he turns, I'm going to wring your scrawny Force-wielding neck."

"Understood."

Owen let go of Obi-wan's hand.

"I'm glad we had this talk."

"There is one more matter we need to discuss. Now that Vader knows he has a child, it won't be long before he starts running through the places connected to his past, looking up any family of his or Padme, anyone who would take in his child. Eventually he'll come here. I've talked to a friend, and he can arrange transportation for us offworld."

"Us too?

"Well, I assumed you would want to go."

"Hell fracking yeah. Look I don't get this Force stuff, or this Jedi/Sith crap, and I know I won't be able to protect him from everything, but I sure as hell am going to try."

"As I figured."

* * *

Above all else, Orochimaru was a man of obsessions. Obsessions with power. With knowledge. With control. Often these urges consumed him; drove him to work without food or sleep for months, sustaining himself on purely jutsu, soldier pills, and sheer force of will. Often it overwhelmed logical thought. Logically he wouldn't have abducted Konoha ninja and civilians for his experiments given he could have easily gone outside the village for his subjects, logically he would have stayed with the Akatsuki instead of trying to take over Itachi's body, and logically he wouldn't have targeted Vader.

He could have targeted many people; he could have found some mook in the Imperial organization, someone that he could effortlessly influence. Then by using the Imperial agent as a stepping stone, he would spread his influence throughout the Imperial infrastructure. However, the idea didn't appeal to him. It lacked poetry. It was undeserving of a god such as himself. Then he thought of Vader. The irony pleased him; this was a path worthy of him.

However, when he tried to find information on Vader, he found nothing. And so began his obsession.

Eventually he learned a couple names, and so he went to the graveyards. He spent months in various graveyards, listening to the witless, simpering babble of its inmates as they spoke of their pathetic and insignificant former lives. He listened for the diamonds in the shit filled drivel that was their meaningless past existence. He learned more names and he learned information. Eventually he learned enough to approach Vader, and he's pleased with how things have turned out.

Orochimaru was at his computer, a small hologram of Vader was floating above the keyboard.

"My Master, the computer program has been put into place."

Orochimaru checked to see if it really was in place, he trusted no one. When he checked the matching program on his computer he found himself to have access to Palpatine's computer network.

"Very good Vader, this has earned you a full 30 seconds with your wife. Your next assignment is of a different sort. I recently have been running experiments and doing research into the Force. However, the study has proven itself problematic. I have gained some information but not nearly as much as I would like. Perhaps I would do better if I had a more… cooperative subject."

"You wish me to be that subject?"

"Of course not. I cannot risk exposing your true allegiances. Palpatine would notice your absence. However, you do have an apprentice. If he vanished, Palpatine would assume he's on assignment or was killed, but either way he wouldn't really care. The boy's loyal enough to you to obey me if you order him to. Bring him to my compound within the week."

"Yes my Master."

* * *

_Looking back, it's amazing how quickly things change. I mean in a blink of an eye your whole life and role in it changes. I was a talentless idiot who barely scraped his way through the academy, then I was a soldier, then a refugee, then a lone mercenary, and now I am a member of The Resistance. It almost seems that my leaving Tatooine set off some kind of mass domino effect. All these other ninja sort of just crawled out of woodwork and we teamed up. We met a bunch of other people and The Resistance was born. The organization has two factions. We have the ninja (though it's not just ninja but all people from Shuuyoujo), and we have the Rebellion (everyone else). We all operate from this formerly abandoned space station. While we technically are supposed to be this united organization, the factions don't really like each other and keep to themselves. However, we do missions and assignments together just fine when we have to. One mission we did recently was we assassinated __Sate Pestage, the Imperial Grand Vizier. We arranged to have his corpse dumped on the steps of the Imperial Palace on Coruscant so Palpatine was forced to address the public about it. In the press conference he said this was a vicious terrorist attack, and how such treachery would not be tolerated. He tried to act calm, but you could just tell the man was pissed. I can only imagine how pissed he would be if my plan wasn't vetoed, it involved a giant blender. Shikamaru (lazy but smart) is sort of the strategist of the ninja group. He called this meeting later for some reason. He probably said what the meeting was for, but I honestly wasn't paying attention. All I know is the meeting is at 4, so I have some time to kill._

Excerpt from the journal of Naruto Uzumaki

* * *

There was a loud grunt and a figure landed with a thud. Even with the thick padding he wore, the blow and the fall hurt. He slowly got to his feet and stared at his smirking opponent and said,

"Ok, I'm done".

Naruto's smirk turned to a frown.

"What? Ah come on man. You chickening out now?"

"Yes. I've taken enough physical abuse for today."

The figure then stumbled out of the ring and took off his pads.

Naruto sighed and looked around. As the meeting wasn't until later, he was at the station's gym. He was currently in the large elevated fighting ring that was in the center of the room. Around the ring there was a large collection of machines, barbells, dumbbells, and other training implements.

"Where the hell is everybody? Where are all the ninja?"

Pickings were slim today. The gym was practically empty, which was surprising as usually the gym was full. Even more surprising was the fact that Naruto was the only ninja there. Naruto hadn't even worked up a sweat yet. Hell, he hasn't even needed to put on any pads yet. He only wore some boxing gloves to help protect his opponents.

Spotting a powerful looking guy finishing up a set of deadlifts, Naruto called out,

"Yo big man, care to step into the ring?"

The guy turned around and after a moment said,

"No."

"Why?"

"It's not a fair fight. You have powers."

"I won't use them, scout's honor."

"You're not a scout."

"Fine… ninja's honor."

"Ninjas have no honor."

"Just get your ass into the ring!"

The man walked up to the ring, put on some pads and gloves, and stepped into the ring. Naruto had to look up as the guy was twice his height and about four times his weight. The man said,

"The name's Ganlif."

"Naruto."

"Rules?"

"Until one side gives up".

Naruto pressed a button at the edge of the ring and a counter quickly moved down from three. When the counter hit zero there was the sound of a bell, which started the fight.

Ganlif immediately ran at Naruto, but the ninja easily moved out of the way. When he was dodging, he kicked the back of Ganlif's knee, collapsing the joint. Ganlif hit the ground hard, but without any delay was up and running at Naruto again.

Naruto dodged again and kicked the same knee, which caused the same result.

When on the ground, Ganlif said,

"I thought you said you weren't going to use your powers."

Naruto walked up to Ganlif's prone body and leaned down.

"I'm not, I'm just that good."

In response, Ganlif's right hand shot out and wrapped around Naruto's throat. He then yanked Naruto to the ground and then immediately brought the ninja into a submission hold.

Naruto automatically starting drawing on chakra but he stopped as that was against the rules of this match. He frantically flailed his limbs around, but Ganlif simply held on tighter. From his position, he couldn't land a decent blow on Ganlif and he was starting to run out of air, so he tapped out on the floor.

Ganlif and Naruto stood up.

"So Ganlif… where did you learn how to do that?"

"When I was growing up I did a lot of wrestling."

"Care to give me a few pointers."

"Be here at noon tomorrow."

"Naruto?"

Naruto turned around and saw Kakashi standing near the ring.

"Hey Kakashi-sensei."

"What are you doing here? Why aren't you at the meeting?"

"The meeting's at 4."

"It's 4:30."

"Holy crap!"

Naruto pulled off his gloves, jumped out of the ring, and ran out the gym door.

* * *

Naruto burst through the doors out of breath. He saw a bunch of people in the amphitheatre that was used as the Resistance's meeting place.

"Sorry I'm late. I got… attacked… by a pirate. The pirate… saw my hair… and… uh… thought it was gold. So… yeah."

The door opened and Kakashi stepped through. When he passed by Naruto he said,

"Work on the excuses. Hey everybody, sorry I'm late. I fell down a hole and met the Lord of the Dance who taught me how to get funky."

"And that's better than what I said how?"

"I got photographs."

Shikamaru cleared his throat.

"If I could interrupt, could you sit down?"

Kakashi went to a seat, and Naruto was about to as well until he saw a figure he recognized.

"Luke?"

In a blur, Naruto was next to him.

"Hey Naruto."

"What are doing here?"

"I'm joining the Rebellion."

"I guess you're getting that adventure after all".

Shikamaru yelled,

"Naruto, sit down before your troublesome ass gives me a migraine… too late."

Naruto whispered to Luke,

"We'll catch up later."

He then rushed to a seat.

* * *

_Damn that meeting was boring. I honestly have no idea what it was about, I sort of tuned most of it out. After the meeting we had a ninja only one, which I also tuned out. We really need to find more interesting speakers. Well according to the papers I was given detailing the mission I was assigned, we r__ecently came across intelligence that says a high ranking Imperial agent is doing an assassination on some planetary governor that objects to some Imperial practices. The agent goes by the name Jade. I and an asshole/friend named Sasuke have been ordered to bring her in. Should be fun._

Excerpt from the journal of Naruto Uzumaki

* * *

The figure silently climbed up the stone, the devices at her fingertips allowing her to grip the smooth rock. When she got to the window, she pulled from a pocket a device, and with a barely perceptible whine the energy field over the window vanished and she stepped into the room. The target's bed was at the far side of the room so she quickly crept over. Getting her knife ready, (a lightsaber makes too much noise for an assassination), she pulled back the cover and struck.

The governor's body when struck exploded in smoke and Jade felt a blow to her stomach.

* * *

Jade was shocked when the body turned to smoke, and it was in that moment that Naruto struck. Moving forward, he sunk his knee into her stomach; he then struck his elbow into her jaw and then slammed his fist into her nose, which broke it. Jade avoided his next blow and retreated back to get her bearings. A figure emerged from the wall behind her and struck the back of her head, which knocked her out.

"In case you forgot Dobe, we are supposed to capture her not kill her."

"Shut up Teme."

Sasuke threw Jade over his shoulder and waited as Naruto retrieved the real governor and put him back into his bed.

"Hey Sasuke, I had a thought."

"Yeah?"

"Does this seem really easy to you?"

"You're complaining about that?"

"No, it's just she supposed to be this super high level agent but we took her down really easy. I mean really easy. That seem weird to you?"

Sasuke thought for a moment, put Jade down on the ground and then made a few hand seals. His hand started glowing slightly and there was a small humming sound emitting from them. He then waved his hands several times over Jade's body until they eventually came to a stop over Jade's navel. He then grabbed the zipper of Jade's bodysuit and pulled down.

"What the hell Sasuke! We're supposed to capture her not molest her."

"Shut up Dobe."

Pulling out a kunai, Sasuke carefully made a small incision near Jade's belly button. He then turned to Naruto and said.

"Do you have tweezers?"

"Why the hell would I have tweezers?"

"Because you carry a whole bunch of crap with you that you think will be useful someday."

"When will tweezers ever be useful?"

"Right now!"

"Listen up asshole, I don't have-"

"Just check".

"Fine".

Taking a small scroll out of a pouch at his waist, Naruto focused his chakra.

With a soft whoosh and a puff of smoke the ground was covered in a large number of objects. Sasuke raised an eyebrow when he saw a half eaten sandwich on top of what looked like a ship engine.

"Um… why do you have…?"

"Hey, I was looking for that."

Naruto grabbed the sandwich and took a bite.

"Still good, want a bite?"

"No, I'm good. Just find the damn tweezers."

Naruto opened his mouth as wide as he could and stuffed the rest of the sandwich inside his mouth. He then gave Sasuke a quick thumbs up and continued searching.

A few moments later Sasuke heard some incomprehensible gibberish from behind him.

Sasuke turned around to see Naruto, his cheeks stuffed out like a chipmunk. Naruto tried saying something again but Sasuke got nothing from it but a face full of crumbs. Naruto then held out some tweezers.

Sasuke carefully inserted the tweezers into the incision on Jade's stomach and pulled out a small disk a quarter the size of a finger nail.

"What's that Teme?"

Naruto crouched down next to Sasuke, a bottle of water in his hand.

"It appears to be a tracking chip."

"So I was right about it being too easy."

"Don't read too much into it, even a blind squirrel will eventually find a nut."

"Hold still and my foot will find two more!"

"Like to see you try Dobe."

"Is that right Teme? Well any time!"

"Want to spar after the mission?"

"Ok."

Naruto stood up, returned all the items to the scroll, and said.

"She's too much a security risk now to bring to base. We should bring her to an outpost so they can check for more of those tracking chip things."

"Fine."

Naruto then took out a bacta patch and put it on Jade's broken nose.

"That's an awful lot of chivalry for the guy who broke it in the first place."

"Shut up."

Sasuke pulled Jade onto his shoulder and stood up.

Naruto started heading for the window, but he stopped when Sasuke said.

"Privacy seal."

Naruto then moved to one of the walls and poured a small amount of chakra into the stone. On the wall a small symbol appeared. Naruto bit his thumb and wiped a little blood on the symbol and the symbol disappeared. Naruto then took out a piece of cloth and wiped up the blood. He then turned around and held a finger to his lips.

Sasuke and Naruto quietly made their way to the window and leapt out.

* * *

Jade quickly returned to consciousness, though she kept still so anybody around would think she was still out.

She was bound to a chair. Her arms were tied individually to the arms and her legs were tied to the legs. Her clothing was intact and untouched. A slight tingling feeling suggested she just spent some time in a bacta tank and all her weapons have been removed. She could not access the Force so she guessed she had been outfitted with some type of suppression device.

"You can open your eyes now."

Her ruse found out, she opened her eyes to see one of the most scar ridden faces she had ever seen. She may have seen worse, but not by much.

"My name is Ibiki Morino, and what's yours?"

Jade stayed silent.

"You might be interested to know but all the tracking devices on your body have been disposed of."

Jade continued to stay silent.

"What is your exact role within the Empire?"

Jade said nothing.

"It really would be easier for you if you cooperate… no… well a part of me did hope you could be civil about this, but a far larger part hoped that you wouldn't. I do love my work. This is the way it's going to work. I ask you questions and you answer them, or I cause you pain. Simple enough right? Let's begin."

Ibiki stood next to Jade.

Ibiki reached down grabbed the tip of Jade's pinky and snapped it. She winced in pain.

"What I'm going to do is break every bone in your right hand, in your left hand, and then your feet. I'm not going to ask any questions right now. This is simply to set the mood. Of course if you wanted to reveal some information I would be pleased. After all the bones are snapped, I'll throw you in a bacta tank and after you heal… I'll torture you with things that make a few broken bones seem pleasant."

"Kriff you!"

In response Ibiki broke another bone.

"2 down, 108 to go."

Snap. Jade choked back a scream.

"Well, 107 now."

* * *

Jiraiya worked from behind his desk in the space station. He, unfortunately, was the leader of the ninja. He hated it, he hated the job itself and the fact he couldn't dedicate as much as time as he wanted to his spy network or his books… or women. He really liked women. However, there wasn't really a choice. The invasion, bombardment, and just time had severely thinned their numbers. He was really the only person left who was qualified to lead.

The door to his office hissed open.

"What have you got for me Morino?"

"A grand total of jack and shit. She's been trained well. Usually I get them to talk after a few hours; she's been here 2 weeks."

"Have a solution?"

"I need your authorization to use more… extreme measures."

"That would be problematic. The Rebellion is already throwing a fit on the measures you're currently taking; I might not be able to smooth things over if you do more."

"I really couldn't give a shit what those spineless idiots want."

"However, I do. We don't have the finances to run our operation without them. Without their cooperation and funds, our organization takes a serious blow."

"What we're doing now isn't working; we need to try something new. We can deal with the political fallout afterward if necessary."

"… Do it."

"I'll be discreet."

* * *

The scream was long, bloodcurdling, and unending.

"Let's retry that shall we."

Suddenly the door to the interrogation chamber burst open and rebel soldiers burst through. Two of them took Jade out of her restraints and rushed her out of the room; the rest of the soldiers had their blasters fixed on Ibiki. A woman strode into the room.

Ibiki sighed and put the gasoline tank on the table.

"Hello Mothma."

"This is disgusting. You have gone too far Morino."

"Is that so? What would you have me do, serve her tepid tea and stale cookies?"

"I expect you treat her with respect. Enemy or not, she is still a person, and deserves to be treated like one."

"It's not a person, it's a sack of meat that has information we need. If you can't understand that, than it's no wonder you're losing this war."

"What's the use of winning if we become like the Empire."

"Well, for one, we'll still be alive."

"You may have a gift for interrogation, but it's clear you need supervision to rein in your sadism."

"I am doing what needs to be done, and will not tolerate interference."

"That's not your choice. Listen to me, or listen to the judge during your trial for war crimes against a sentient being."

Ibiki growled softly and the soldiers tightened their grips on their blasters.

"Your spineless peace-mongering is going to kill us all Mothma."

"Let's discuss how things are now going to work."

* * *

After all the time in her cell, the bright lights of the room were blinding. Binders bound her wrists, but she was still freer then she had been in weeks.

Behind her stood Ibiki, looking pissed as his usual. In front of her was an extremely large and beautiful garden. She saw people walking about, talking… staring at her.

"Listen up Jade. If it was up to me you would rot in your cell for the rest of your short miserable life, but fortunately for you it's not up to me. Apparently the way I treat you is 'barbaric' and 'inhumane'. Prisoners should be treated with 'respect' and 'dignity'. Damn bleeding hearts are forgetting that you wouldn't hesitate to slit all our throats. Enjoy your break. Try to run and this will not happen again. You will live, die, and rot in your little cell, and your only company for the rest of your life will be me.

Jade sat on a bench, she could have walked around and looked at the flowers, but honestly that sort of thing didn't interest her. She needed to figure out a way out of here.

"Hey".

Jade looked up to a blond man with blue eyes, about her age.

"I'm Luke."

A figure behind him cleared his throat.

"Oh, and this is Naruto."

"We've met," Naruto said, "Luke could we talk alone for a moment?"

"Sure."

* * *

"Luke, what the hell are you doing?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're trying to befriend an enemy."

"I guess."

"You don't befriend enemies, because… she's a damn enemy. It's in the big rule book of life. Rule 1: Don't die. Rule 2: Don't befriend enemies!"

"Why not? If I befriend her, she would no longer be an enemy-"

Naruto interrupted him.

"You can't seriously be that stupid and naive."

"You don't think people can change?"

"Sure people can change, but she's not a person is she? Enemies are not people, they're obstacles."

"I don't agree with that."

"Well you should. You are still too green to understand how things work."

"Then explain it to me."

"An enemy cannot be a person. You cannot think of them of people, because that just makes it harder for you to do what needs to be done."

"But if they're no longer an enemy, than you don't need to do anything."

"Look what's this about? I will admit she's hot. Is that what this is about? Look if you want to get some horizontal action there are better options. Hell, go to the station's cantina. Wear a tee-shirt and start throwing around that farm boy charm, and the women will be on you like fat chicks on a candy bar."

"Look, it's nothing to do with that. I just think this is the right thing to do. And… fat chicks on a candy bar? Even I'm offended by that."

"Why? You're not fat. And you're not a girl… right?"

"Do I look like a girl?"

"No, but sometimes appearances are deceiving. I once met a dude who looked like a really hot girl. I guess that would explain your lack of facial hair. Though if that's the case, you are one really ugly-"

"I'm not a girl!" Luke interrupted.

"As I was saying about Jade, it's a bad idea-"

"It's my life. I'll live it however the hell I feel like."

"This is going to bite you in the ass."

"Then let it bite. I'll deal with it. I appreciate your concern, but it's my life. Let me live it."

"Watch your back, or she might stick a knife in it."

Naruto disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"I hate when he does that."

* * *

Walking back to the bench, Luke reopened the conversation with his usual eloquence.

"Hey."

Jade didn't say anything. Luke continued,

"Can I sit down?"

"You realize I'm an Imperial prisoner right?

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean you're not a person. Regardless of ideology, you could still be someone who's worth getting to know. In any case, everyone deserves a friend right?"

"Did Ibiki send you here to pump me for information?"

"No. I would never work with that guy. Honestly, he gives me the creeps."

"Hm."

"So why do you work for the Empire anyway?"

"None of your business."

"Working for the Resistance is great. You protect people, and get good friends…"

"Not interested."

"You would never have to interact with Ibiki ever again."

"…That's actually a damn good selling point."

Luke chuckled and Jade found herself chuckling as well.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Star Wars. Naruto belongs to Musashi Kishimoto and Star Wars belongs to George Lucas.

Chapter 4:

Naruto sat in the cushioned chair in front of a desk. Across the desk sat Jiraiya.

"With this whole Jade thing and Luke, part of me thinks he's an idiot" Naruto said "That he's too innocent. But another part of me wishes I was like him. I used to be that, always thinking the best of people. I feel this war has changed me, and not in a good way. Before this war, when I woke up, I was excited about the new day. I was eager to experience new things. Yeah, my life sucked, but I felt if I worked hard enough, I could change it for the better. Now when I wake up, I just feel tired. And I don't know if I can change things in my life. We're a tiny group against a galactic Empire. Honestly what are our chances? Sometimes I just wish…"

"What?"

"That none of this ever happened. That Palpatine had invaded some other planet. I don't care if that makes me a bad person; I just wish this was someone else's problem."

"I wish that too, but what we want doesn't matter. Look, however much you miss how you were, you'll never be that person again. That's not a bad thing. Too innocent can be worse than too jaded. Like it or not, who you are a perfect adaption to what you need to do."

"Do you think the Rebellion's right, that we're losing our moral integrity?"

"Probably. I'm not going to claim that what we do is right. It isn't. It's morally wrong and repugnant. I've done many things that haunt me every night as I sleep. However, if it needs to be done, then it needs to be done. If they were my only choices, I would rather live in shame, than die with honor."

"What would you do about the Jade thing if you were in my position?"

"For the most part, I don't trust easily. For most people, unless I know them well, I feel anything that can think is thinking of ways to stab me in the back. Comes from years of being a spy behind enemy lines, where everyone if they knew who I was would actually want to kill me. If it was up to me, I probably would have killed Jade already. I never really liked interrogation. Information gained under duress is not incredibly reliable, and misinformation is worse than no information. I have always been more of a fan of observation. But what I would do doesn't matter. This is you. It's your life, do what you want with it. It's your decision to make."

"Thanks Ero… Godfather."

"Not a problem. It's what I do."

* * *

Luke headed around the corner of the hallway.

"Hey Luke."

"Naruto. You here to yell at me again?"

"No. Um… I'm sorry."

"What?"

"Look I don't think this Jade thing is a good idea, but it's your life and you can live it any way you want. It's none of my business what you do. It's just that I care about you, man. I don't have many friends. Most people tend to think I'm a noisy jerk, so I tend to very protective of the friends I got. I'm worried this thing won't end the way you want it to and you'll end up hurt. But I'm just going to butt out of this, but know if you need me I got your back.

"Thanks. Listen I really do appreciate you looking out for me."

"This conversation has gotten really sappy hasn't it?"

"Just a bit."

"Want to go to the gym and beat the shit out of each other?"

"Sure."

* * *

The door opened with a hiss.

"Hey Mara."

Jade turned around to see that Luke had opened the door to her cell, probably with the Force.

"Hi Farmboy."

"I'm starting to regret telling you that."

"Well, live and learn."

Luke stood next to Jade in her cell.

"How are you holding up?"

"Fine, so the ninja are actually letting you meet with me in my cell?"

"No, they actually don't know about it. I'm running a loop through the security cameras."

"Kinda risky. You're not worried I'll bolt?"

"Nah. I trust you."

The two stood quietly for a few seconds.

"Luke, I have to ask you something."

"Yeah?"

"Why are you doing all this for me?"

"Because like I said before. Everyone deserves a friend and you're a good person."

"Thanks. These last few months have been hard, and having a friend has helped a lot."

Jade and Luke started leaning towards each other and they met in a kiss. It started off soft but it started to intensify.

Luke lost himself in the moment, but was quickly taken out of it by an agonizing pain in his stomach. He looked down to see the blade of his lightsaber sticking through his body. Shocked he looked up just in time to see a fist heading towards him. The blow knocked him unconscious and he collapsed to the ground.

Jade looked down at the saber in her hands and deactivated it. Surprisingly she felt guilty. She had been manipulating Luke's feelings to get into this sort of situation, but now that it has happened, she felt sad.

"I'm sorry Luke."

Reaching down, Jade found Luke's comlink and made a call.

* * *

His breath came out in ragged gasps. They came out of nowhere. Without any warning, the Imperial ships had arrived. They systematically and quickly destroyed the stations' weapons, the ship hanger, and the stations engines, so the Resistance could neither run nor fight. It was almost like they knew the exact location of those targets beforehand.

Naruto leaned his back against the wall and did a mild henge. A troop of four stormtroopers passed by him without noticing him, and Naruto released the jutsu.

He had been fighting for about half a day now as the Imperials worked to occupy and plunder the station. Even with his vast chakra and stamina, he was currently running on empty. At the moment, the only things keeping him going were adrenaline, guts, and the sheer burning desire to not die. He was trapped on the station like a rat in a closed maze and he knew he would be caught eventually, but he was going to make those sons of bitches work for it.

Making his way around a corner he was spotted by a group of 5 Stormtroopers. Turning around, he saw that behind him was another group of Stormtroopers.

His eyes turned red and with a roar two massive gouts of flame engulfed the two groups. After a couple seconds Naruto stopped the flames, and only charred corpses were left behind. Naruto stopped accessing the Kyuubi's chakra and he grew lightheaded and he half collapsed to the ground. The demonic energy was hard enough on his body when he was fresh; the stuff was pure poison now.

Naruto eventually made his way back to his feet and kept moving. Suddenly he heard a loud bang and he felt an excruciating pain in his lower back. Naruto found himself hitting the ground hard. He drifted at the edge of consciousness, until he heard a second blaster shot and his mind went blank.

* * *

In front of Palpatine within a hologram, Vader kneeled before him. Palpatine spoke.

"What do you have to report?"

"The attack of the station went well. Because of Jade's information, our casualties have been inconsequential."

"What of the Resistance?"

"Many are dead, the few that are not have been sent to various locations for either interrogation or labor purposes."

"And the Jinchuuriki?"

"I've sent him to Coros."

"Good. Dismissed."

The hologram projector shut off and Vader stood up.

Looking to the right, he looked at Luke's unconscious body. With a gesture Luke's body floated upward and followed him as he walked to his ship.

"Come my son, we have work to do."

* * *

Luke grunted as the lightsaber crashed into his own, the force of it knocking him backwards to the floor.

Darth Vader stared down at him. He and Luke were sparring on Vader's ship. After the Imperial attack on the Resistance space station a few weeks ago, Luke was taken here. Vader spoke.

"You hesitate, I gave an opening, you didn't take it. I know you saw it."

"I…I didn't want to hurt you."

"You are still too weak."

"It is not weakness to care. You are my father."

"Then come my son, and listen to what I am about to teach you."

* * *

Luke stood in front of a cell. He didn't know why Vader lead him here. Suddenly a lump on the far wall stirred and stood up.

Luke gasped.

"Uncle Owen".

"Luke, I'm so glad you're alive."

"I originally was going to kill him, but I thought of a better use for him. He will be part of your next lesson. Kill him."

"What!"

"You're really that much of a fracking coward Anakin? You want me dead, have the balls to kill me yourself, unless those were burned off at Mustafar. But you're too scared, and you know why? Because you know that if you fought me in a fair fight I would take that lightsaber of yours and shove it up your crippled pasty white ass."

Ignoring Owen, Vader continued.

"I am your father, and you will obey me."

"No!"

"If you don't kill him, then I will torture him to the edge of death and throw him into a bacta tank. When he's recovered, I'll ask you again. If you refuse, I'll repeat the process until you change your mind."

Luke looked at Owen.

"I…I can't."

"Abandon this pathetic attachment to your former life. You are no longer a worthless aspiring Jedi, but rather you are my son, you will one day be Sith."

Luke met Owen's eyes. Owen spoke softly.

"Don't Luke. Don't dirty your hands with me. You're a good person and I would rather be tortured to insanity then have you lose that. Don't let him win, don't change who you are. I'll be alright."

Vader spoke.

"He may be willing to sacrifice himself for you, but are you willing to let him do that? I will torture him for years. I will make every moment of the rest of his life a living pain-filled hell. Are you really so cold to let that happen? Are you really so cruel to torture the man who raised you?"

"This is your doing, not mine."

"But if you have the power to stop something, and you choose not to, how is it not your fault? Remember it's your fault he's in this situation in the first place. To willingly choose the option that will cause him the most pain, what type of person are you? Perhaps you are more my son then you think."

Luke slowly lifted his right hand. He started to summon the Force; he was going to do this quick to minimize Owen's pain.

"Not so quick my son, do it slow, or I will personally ensure he survives so we can do this again. Lightly wrap the Force around his throat. Just tight enough for him to feel the restriction. See the fear in his eyes. Relish the power you have over him. His life is in your hands. Squeeze a little tighter, see how he automatically claws at his throat in an attempt to live. Loosen your grip slightly, give him hope that he's escaping, now kill him.

With a loud snap, Owen's neck broke and he collapsed to the ground.

Luke stared at his uncle's corpse. His mind blank. He couldn't believe this had happened. It wasn't supposed to be this way. A tear fell from his eye. But his thoughts moved quickly to anger.

"Do you feel that my son, the anger, the rage? Do you hate me? I'm responsible for everything that's wrong with your life. I killed your mother. It's because of me you were sent to Tatooine. I had all your friends and allies killed. I ripped you from the life you knew. I forced you to kill your uncle. Just think about that. You're a murderer now. You killed a helpless old man. Even if the Resistance still existed, they wouldn't accept you back. You're now a monster, like me. There is no place for you in the Light anymore. The Dark side is all you have left now. "

With a roar, Luke's lightsaber was activated and swung at Vader's head.

Vader easily deflected Luke's lightsaber and knocked him back.

Luke thrusted his right hand forward and Force Lightning shot from it at Vader.

Vader caught the Lightning on his lightsaber and slammed Luke into the far wall with the Force.

Luke twisted and strained to get free. His eyes while blue contained a few faint specks of yellow.

"Very good my son, you're learning."

Vader dropped Luke to the ground and continued,

"Again."

* * *

The scream rang out through the room. It was accompanied by the sound of electricity.

Naruto was bound to the wall, his limbs in shackles and stretched tight. A chakra suppressing collar was at his throat. A hand was half a meter in front of his face, the hand was shooting electricity into his body, the Force power causing his entire body to convulse and contort in the chains.

The interrogator, Coros, stopped and asked again,

"How is a demon contained in you, and how do you access its power?"

Naruto remained silent.

He tried again,

"What the hell do you know?"

"I know you're fat, old, ugly, smelly, and stupid."

"What was that?"

"Oh I'm sorry you're fat, old, ugly, smelly, stupid, and you're apparently deaf. Damn when things go for you they go all at once don't they?"

"Strapped to a chair, completely defenseless, and giving me crap, and you call me the stupid one?"

"Yes."

Coros brought his face within centimeters of Naruto's and said,

"How exactly am I stupid?"

Naruto smiled and suddenly jerked his face forward and sank his teeth into Coros's cheek.

Coros screamed and frantically tried to push Naruto off him. After a few seconds, he got Naruto off him in addition to a large chunk of flesh now being missing from his cheek.

Naruto spat the chunk of flesh at Coros's feet and proclaimed,

"Listen up fool. My name is Naruto Uzumaki. I'm a god damn ninja. That means I will rather die than tell you squat! Believe it!"

Coros shot Naruto with Force lightning, the sheer voltage turning the ninja's skin translucent. Naruto was convulsing so hard that bones were beginning to snap.

While maintaining the attack, Coros said,

"I'm going to break you".

* * *

The Emperor's rage was palpable, even through the hologram. Coros continued,

"In light of our continued failure to extract information from the Jinchuuriki, I recommend the use of a Force mind probe."

"Mind probes cannot be used on Chakra-wielders."

"I understand the previous issues with the practice, but I believe I have a solution. I have been experimenting on another ninja and injecting a careful cocktail of chemicals into the prisoner allows us to dampen the chakra response and thus make the experience more fruitful."

"Do it."

The hologram disappeared, and Coros called out for the demon container to be brought to him.

* * *

The walls, floor, and ceiling of the room was solid durasteel. The only breaks in the metal were thin slits on the door, which lead out of the cell. The door was protected on both sides with an energy field. On the wall were etched a couple dozen scratches, which was Naruto's efforts to keep track of how many days it has been. The only light came from the meager amount that came through the slits of the door.

Naruto faced the door; he was sitting on the ground, the rags that clothed him hanging from his bony under fed frame.

The door suddenly opened, and Naruto winced at the light. Two guards stood in the doorway.

"Your presence is required Uzumaki. You know the drill."

Naruto stood up and held still, as one of the guards came into the cell with binders and leg irons. The second guard waited at the entrance of the cell, his rifle pointed at Naruto.

As Naruto watched the first guard move closer, he felt the blade he had hidden in his palm. He had stolen it days ago from Coros's interrogation chamber, and was just waiting for the perfect time to use it.

For just a moment the first guard's body was in between the rifle and Naruto and in that moment he struck. He shoved it into the gap in the guard's armor between his helmet and his armor. He then ripped the knife out and while sprinting forward threw the knife at the second guard.

The second guard moved to fire, but the knife hit him in his hand and his shot went wide, hitting the first guard. He tried to aim again but Naruto didn't give him a chance.

Naruto punched him in the nose, and then elbowed him in the jaw. As the guard reeled back, Naruto kneed him in the stomach, and elbowed him in the back of his head, which sent the guard's head into his rising knee. He then pulled the gun out of the guards limp hands and slammed its butt into his throat. He then slammed the gun's butt into the guard's broken nose and elbowed him again in the jaw. The guard crumbled unconscious to the ground.

Naruto threw the rifle aside; it was too loud for his purposes. He looked for the knife, but it had broken on impact with the second guard's armor.

With the fight over, Naruto could think about other things, such as the fact he just slammed his hands into armor.

"Ow!"

Alarms starting blaring so Naruto started to run.

* * *

The two guards stood outside of Coros's office/interrogation chambers. One of them was calm and composed. His years of experiences allowing him to do his duty regardless of the circumstances, the other guards was completely the opposite and was proceeding to freak out.

"Would you please calm down Ty. We're not in any danger."

"But the prisoner…"

"We are at the back of the facility; the cells are in the middle. To an escaped prisoner we are in the opposite direction of the exit. We'll be fine. Now relax and shut up."

"Ok… did you hear something?"

"No."

"I did. I heard something, it must be that prisoner, I got to check it out."

"Fine."

Holding his blaster tightly, Ty moved to the end of the hallway and moved around the corner.

With his finger on the trigger he was moments away from spraying the whole area when he realized that there was nothing there.

He was half way turned around when something grabbed his neck.

* * *

Naruto watched the guard carefully from the shadowy alcove, he was looking around nervously. He of course didn't see anything. Naruto might not have been the stealthiest person, and he may not have had chakra, but he knew enough to hide himself from an average non-ninja. After a few moments the guard relaxed and turned around. It was at this moment Naruto struck.

From behind, Naruto brought the guard into a headlock, kicked the back of his knees, and proceeded to take him quickly and quietly to the ground.

The guard frantically struggled for air, but after a few seconds the guard grew still.

Naruto heard the other guard call out.

"Hey Ty! You all right? Ty?"

Hearing footsteps, Naruto grabbed Ty's blaster and retreated back.

* * *

"What the hell!"

Naruto moving forward delivered an uppercut into the guard's chin with the blaster's butt and then swept the guard's legs sending him to the ground. His blaster fell out of the guard's hands and slid to the wall.

Getting on the top of the guard, Naruto slammed his blaster's butt into the guard's face as fast and hard as he could, as many times as he could. Eventually the guard's helmet was knocked off and the blaster broke. Taking the opportunity, the guard slammed his head into Naruto's head and pushed the ninja back. He then leapt for his blaster.

Naruto leapt for it too. They reached it at the same time, and they fought for the blaster. They rolled around on the ground, trying to seize the weapon. When the guard was on top, the guard pushed the side of the weapon into Naruto's throat. Naruto pushed back on the weapon as hard as could but he wasn't strong enough to force the weapon off his neck, and his vision started to get blurry.

Suddenly, Naruto let go of the weapon with his right hand and jabbed his thumb into the guard's left eye. He then hooked the edge of the eye socket and pulled, which brought the guard to the floor beside him. Naruto got up onto his knees and slammed the butt of the blaster into the guard's right eye. He then slammed it into his eye again and again. After the third blow, the guard fell unconscious.

Naruto pulled his right thumb from the guard's left eye with a disgusting slurp, stood up, and still holding onto the blaster, moved to the door.

* * *

"Find him!"

Coros snarled and slammed the comlink onto his desk. He then leaned back in his chair.

"Idiots, I'm surrounded by idiots."

He heard his door open but when he looked at the door it was closed and no one was there. Then he felt the cold barrel of a blaster being pressed into the back of his skull.

"Hiya Coros, how you doin?"

Naruto grabbed the back of the chair and tipped it backwards, sending Coros sprawling to the floor. He frantically scrambled backwards, only for his back to contact a wall. He slowly stood up. Only to stare up the barrel of a blaster.

"H-how did you get in here?"

Naruto smiled, which as a result of his malnourishment looked rather cadaverous.

"I have my ways."

"What do you want?"

"Let's see, a month of my life back, a metric ton of Miso Ramen, a hot shower… oh you meant what I wanted from you? Simple I want the key."

"What key?"

"I've got a lot of anger right now, and most of it directed at you. There is a blaster in your face and I really want to kill you. Do you really think it's a good idea to give me crap?"

"I don't have it."

Naruto in response pointed the blaster at Coros' right knee and fired, which sent the man screaming to the ground.

"Try again."

"Top drawer of desk, on right."

Naruto opened the drawer and rummaged around. Eventually he found a key. Fitting it into the collar, he turned. There was a click and the collar loosened. Naruto put the blaster down and grabbed the edges of the collar and pulled. They slowly and painfully pulled apart. He had worn the collar so long it had actually partially fused with his skin. But slowly the collar came off, and after a few seconds Naruto threw the collar to the ground. The skin was red and inflamed, with hundreds of puncture marks, which is where the collars had injected him with various suppressants.

Naruto waited for a second, but nothing happened.

"Why are my abilities not returning?"

"It will take some time for the chemicals to work their way out of your system."

The door to Coros's office started shaking at the troopers tried to get in.

"You got another way out of this office?"

"Back wall."

"Thanks."

Naruto fired.

* * *

Naruto looked around the corner of the wall and saw a trooper, who unfortunately saw him too.

Naruto rapidly brought his head back around the corner and a blaster shot hit the wall where his head was a second ago. Naruto flexed his hand, but nothing happened.

"Damn."

The trooper pulled out a com-link.

"I located the prisoner. He's –"

Naruto leaned around the corner and shot him in the head. The com-link fell to the ground.

Naruto suddenly froze as his wounds erupted in steam.

"Yeah!"

Hearing a large group of troopers coming, Naruto headed through a nearby door.

* * *

Naruto after locking the door behind him and catching his breath looked around the room. He immediately saw Shikamaru within an energy cage.

"Shikamaru?"

Naruto ran to in front of the cell.

"What are you doing here? Are there more ninja being held in this place?"

"I'm rotting in a cell while an idiot asked me stupid questions. Now first destroy the security cameras, and second get me out of here."

"How?"

"I was assuming with a blaster or a jutsu of some kind."

Naruto destroyed the security cameras with his blaster.

"I meant the 'how to get you out of there' thing."

"There's a keypad on the wall."

"I don't know the –"

"7, 9, 2, 2, 5, 7, 0, 4, 8, 1"

"How do you know that?"

"I memorized it when they put me in here."

"Could you repeat those numbers again?"

After a few minutes Naruto got Shikamaru out.

"So Shika, about that other ninja thing."

"We're the only ninja in the facility."

"How do you know?"

"Because I was paying attention when we got captured, and noted where people were sent. Everyone else who survived are in other interrogation facilities, the mines of Kessel, and Despayre."

"So what do we do now Shika?"

"The fact you don't have a collar means you have a key."

"Here, but you won't get your powers back right away."

Shikamaru unlocked and peeled off his collar.

"I know. It's the same thing we used on Jade. The collar works through a combination of energy suppressing technology and the injection of various sedatives that –"

"Yeah, don't care."

"Sorry, I tend to explain things when I get nervous."

"Still don't care, so what's the plan?"

"I got an idea. Listen up."

* * *

The 5 troopers burst into the room prepared for anything, only to encounter an empty room.

"The other prisoner has escaped."

Suddenly a foreboding feeling overcame them and they froze in place. With a flash of chakra infused wind, all of them fell down dead.

Without saying a word Shikamaru and Naruto put on the armor, and took the gear and weapons of two of the dead troopers.

Naruto's panting was clearly audible.

"You ok Naruto?"

"Sorry, I haven't really slept or eaten anything in like 2 days. I'm running a little low on juice."

"Well, you got enough juice to burn a few corpses to ash?"

"No."

"Damn. Then we should get out of here. Remember act like you belong here and nobody should be suspicious."

"I know."

"Yeah, remember when I get nervous I-"

"Yeah… still don't care. Let's go."

* * *

Shikamaru and Naruto entered the hanger. Walking up to an official, Shikamaru started talking.

"Excuse me."

"Yeah."

"You in charge of the hanger?"

"Yeah, what do you need?"

"The Commander thinks that since we know the prisoners are trying to escape the space station, they'll eventually try to hijack a ship. So Lord Coros sent us here to set up a patrol outside the station."

"I thought Lord Coros was dead."

"That's sacrilege. Who told you such lies?"

"Um… I mean… I heard it from some friends-"

"Who are these friends, give me their names, Lord Coros would love to hear of this."

"Never mind. I must of heard wrong. I'm still going to need signed authorization to approve the order."

"This is a time of crisis and Lord Coros gave a direct order. You are really going to waste everyone's time, risk the prisoners escaping, and defy a direct order because of procedure?"

"…Yes."

Naruto suddenly slammed his blaster butt into the official's face, knocking him out.

"This wasn't working, let's hijack a ship."

One of the workers in the hanger suddenly yelled,

"Hey, that guard knocked out the supervisor. It must be one of the prisoners in disguise." Alarms started blaring.

"Naruto, you're an idiot."

Naruto threw Shikamaru over his shoulder and ran using Chakra-enhanced speed for one of the ships.

Blaster shots hit around him. On the ramp to one of the ships, a blaster shot hit him in the knee and Naruto went down. Shikamaru grabbed him, dragged him into the ship, and shut the door.

"Thanks."

"Just get to the wheel, you're driving."

"I'm not a good pilot."

"I need to override the hanger doors, so you are going to need to do it anyway."

Limping to the controls, Naruto sat down in the pilot's seat.

The ship started shaking as shots impacted its hull.

Naruto started the ship and started moving the ship forward.

"What are you doing, I don't have the doors open yet?"

"If we stay here we die, so shut up and work faster!"

At the last second, the hanger doors opened and the ship flew out into space. Behind them, a handful of ships followed them. They immediately started firing, and Naruto tried unsuccessfully to dodge them.

"Time for hyperspace."

"You can't."

"Why? I don't have the skill to outrun them."

"They have anti-hyperspace generators."

"What?"

"Hyperspace works by using powerful gravity fields to fold the fabric of reality, which allows the ship-"

"Get to the damn point!"

"Their generators produce an interfering gravity field. Entering hyperspace when there's another gravity field is extremely dangerous. So all ship manufactures have an automatic fail-safe built in that prevents a ship's hyperspace from being activated when-"

"Disable the failsafe."

"Without the failsafe, there's a 99% chance that when we get to hyperspace our very molecules will be ripped apart."

"At the moment I am willing to take that risk. Because if we don't do that, there is a 100% chance we're gonna die, because I'm not going back to that cell, one way or another."

"I'll disable the failsafe."

"Good man."

Shikamaru went to work on the ship's computer and Naruto tried and failed to dodge all the incoming shots.

In front of Naruto, various readouts and lights on the dashboard started flashing red.

"Oh red flashing lights are almost never good. How's it going Shikamaru?"

"I'm working as fast as I can."

"Well work faster!"

At that moment a powerful shot hit the ship and several pieces of the ceiling broke off.

"Damn, damn, damn, damn". Naruto repeated his mantra as he began to slightly hyperventilate.

"The fail-safe's gone, punch it."

Naruto grabbed the hyperspace controller and threw it forward. With a high pitched whine, the ship vanished into hyperspace.

* * *

The messenger screamed as the lightning ripped its way through his body. His corpse hit the ground a moment later.

After a few minutes, Palpatine had calmed down enough to think logically about the situation.

This wasn't a complete loss. While the two prisoners were valuable, they did have other ninjas in custody. Also interrogation was proving itself quite ineffective on those two, though they did get some out of them. They had also already taken from them genetic materials and had full-write ups on them for several dozen medical tests and examinations. Palpatine immediately started thinking of ways this situation can be turned to his advantage. He smiled as a few moments later an idea crystallized in his mind.

"Excellent."


End file.
